Redshirts

This was a huge surprise of a book! John Scalzi is a favorite author of mine, and an inspiration to my own writing. And based on the description of the novel and much of what I'd been hearing about it, I thought this was going to be a purely fun, action-packed, quirky romp. And, indeed, the first two-thirds certainly had a lot of that! But then, starting at the end of the main story and carrying through into the three codas, the book takes a very serious turn that left me both inspired and emotionally wracked. The codas are, from what I've read of his, the most sentimental (in the good way, not the sentimentality-bad way) stuff he's written.

What's funny (not in the ha-ha way), is that I did read some reviews of the novel before hand, to get an idea of the book before I bought it, trying to not spoil myself. And, I read a lot of comments saying that, “This is a great book! Until the stupid codas. They're pointless and totally don't fit.” A lot of those kind of comments. So, I was prepared to enjoy the satirical and fun first two-thirds of the main story, and then just kinda gloss over the rest. Whoa, was I wrong! No... boy are those comments absolutely wrong! See, despite the fact that most of the book is the story of a bunch or “red shirts” on a space shift figuring out newbies on the ship tend to die on away missions and figuring out how to overcome this apparent curse, that's not the real story. In fact, I see that as the preface for the real story, which is the three codas! The sci-fi action story is a necessary setup for the themes and conflict that are dealt with in the codas which investigate the nature of finding yourself. Discovering who you are, what you want to be and do, and how you deal with the life you're “given.”

I really can't say more without spoilering the book. And this is a book that I highly and heavily recommend reading! It's a short book, and very fast – you could probably read it all in a day and evening. I would recommend listening to the audiobook as Wil Wheaton (also no stranger to star ships and red shirts), does a fine job! Although, I don't agree with some of his inflection and tone choices. Until He gets to the codas. Then, I can't imagine anyone else reading it. He's absolutely brilliant, and I'd recommend anyone listening through the first part in order to hear Wil Wheaton read the codas. He's an actor, so very possibly the emotion I hear in his voice toward the end of the last coda is acting... but I don't think so. I think, considering what and how he talks about his own life in his blogs, he's truly feeling the emotion of that last coda, and it's bringing tears to my eyes right now as I remember it.

Read Redshirts. Even if you're not a sci-fi fan, even if you don't think you'll get the satire and the in-jokes. That's okay. Remember, the main action story is just a prelude for some of the best contemporary literary fiction that is the core of the book.